Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

Well, tonight is the summer solstice in the UK, so after tonight the nights will fair start drawin' in! 

I shall finish sorting out our warm woollen jumpers, hats and gloves next week, and have that done and out of the way, I think. 

Gers

missychrissy said:

 I collect wood whenever I walk my dog and store it in large paper sacks in the garage but I find it blackens my stove door and presumably my chimney even after being stored for several months.

This sounds as if your wood is still not down to 20% or less moisture or you're not burning it at a high temperature.  If the stove is working at a high temperature then the black stuff on the glass will clear off.  Using a moisture meter really helps in selecting dry enough wood.

Tink_04

Does anyone have a ‘general’ winter food prep list and medicines? 

I’m trying to create one for a friend who lives with her partner. 

I have been going through mine but a lot of it is animal and children related? Just want to check I’m not missing anything obvious! 

Thanks 
Tink

boultdj

Pain tablet of choice.
Cough medication.
Plasters.
Prescription medication
Oxos/ stock cubes/ gravy granules
Herbs/ spices
Tinned soup/ veg/ fruit/ beans/ tomatoes
All I can think of off the top of my head.

Laura_Elsewhere

We mostly go for old-fashioned remedies, so the bought ones are only paracetamol, Gaviscon tablets and antiseptic cream. As well as that I usually have hydrogen peroxide, a good first aid kit of gauze, lint, tape, etc., for dressings, and the fabric-strip of sticking-plaster with a little pair of round-ended scissors permanently with it. 

We started in 2016 to ease forward our re-ordering of a prescription so that we ordered it just a few days before we normally would, each time, so that we reached a point where we ordered a new 3-month supply just as we opened the still-sealed 3-month supply. ie if we started a package in January, then we'd order the next one at that point and have it in-hand through Jan/Feb/March; as soon as we open that in-hand package, we order the repeat prescription. 

Because we only altered it by a few days each time, it didn't put stress on the system, but it means if ever there is some problem with supply, we've got a whole prescription in-hand. 

suki1964

missychrissy said:

So where do I buy smokeless and anthracite? is it cheaper than gas CH? 

Nothing is cheaper then Natural gas unless you have one of these super dooper zero house which cost £100 a year for heating/lighting and cooking

If you have natural gas, you won't be recouping the cost of the stove for many a year

I live very rural and like most of us in rural areas, we don't have mains sewage or gas and a lot of us have our own wells ( thankfully I don't but my neighbour around the corner does )

We are reliant on electricity which is flakey, Oil and LPG, all three are much more expensive as a rule than Gas. 

I have oil CH and HW. When I moved here in 2006, oil was 35p a litre, a fill cost £300 and was gone in 6 weeks. During the banking crisis it reached the mid 80p a litre and still only lasted 6 weeks. And that wasn't having a warm house, that was keeping the chill off and being able to live. We put in two stoves, one in each living room so we ( mum and dad in theirs, us in ours ) had a least one room which we could make toasty to sit and relax in, and during the big freezes and no electric, a room we could sleep in

Oil right now is less the 20p a litre, the lowest its been since Ive lived here and lower then most people can remember . It now makes sense to use oil rather then coal or logs but of course its summer, the house is warm, no oil is required Its probably cheaper then gas at the moment , theres a few on the solid fuel board that can work it all out - price per KW. But that is rare, very rare. Gas always works out cheaper in the long run

Look online for coal merchants. Buying from the garage or home bargains is madness.You are paying premium prices for low quality fuels

Heres an idea of what wood Im storing for not this year, but the year after and beyond 

Thats from last year , should be dry enough this winter

Thats what we have cut so far  and the next it waiting for be cut

[Deleted User]

What a lovely sight!

Laura_Elsewhere

I have woodstore envy and I don't even have a fireplace...  

suki1964

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I have woodstore envy and I don't even have a fireplace...  

It was me that had to stack them, near broke me lol
 The first store is how Mr S thinks logs need stacking 

There was a lot more, but we shared with another neighbour. Just waiting for the bigger chainsaw and better weather to get the rest cut to size and split. We are lucky we have plenty of space for storage. I remember years ago we were looking a caravan and turned up at a house, with a normal sized garden for a 3 bedroom house on an estate and you literally couldn't move in the garden for the logs stacked . You couldn't even see the boundary fence

missychrissy

I have wood envy too. I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing and collect wood when I’m walking the dog but I need to store it for longer. It’s free wood and a paper sackful will last me an evening. That’s 5 or 6 hrs not using the central heating. Sometimes I’m offered wood as well (I have a chainsaw). There is absolutely no point in buying fuel for my stove if it is more expensive than CH. I’m on mains gas, electric, drainage etc here but house before last I had LPG and a septic tank. My Villager stove burnt anything and the glass doors didn’t black up like my present Charnwood.